akame oneshot
Title: Time Check
Author: nami (kanzenrei)
Rating: G
Pairing: Akame
Summary: Kame thinks too hard about the future. Jin prefers living in the present.
Notes: For newlyfallensnow, who turned 18 today, and tinzedesu, who’ll be 16 tomorrow. Happy birthday guys ♥ Fic partly based on a prompt by the former way back when.
He picks her up and twirls her around, and her little arms flail in the air, giggles escaping her lips as he brings her back to earth.
“Akanishi’s really good with kids, isn’t he?” Maru offhandedly remarks, watching Jin and the little girl with mild fascination from where he stands about ten feet away.
Kame glances up from his program notes, impassive eyes flicking in Jin’s direction. “I guess,” he replies, returning to his previous task almost instantaneously.
“He’d make a great dad,” Maru continues, now smiling amusedly as the little girl lunged at Jin from behind, knocking him down onto the set’s hard floor. Jin groans, smile pained but intact as the child claps her hands in delight.
Kame glances at his watch. “It’s almost time. Whose daughter is she? Are you sure the staff are allowed to bring their kids in here?” The little girl trips over a camera wire and almost sends an expensive digital device crashing to the floor if not for Jin’s quick reflexes. Kame frowns.
Maru shrugs. “She’s not hurting anybody… Well, almost,” he adds as an afterthought.
“Break’s over!” the director’s voice booms out, making the little girl jump in frightened surprise and sending her fleeing in Kame’s direction.
“You’re not so bad yourself, Kame,” Maru observes wryly.
Kame awkwardly pats the head of the child clinging tightly to his legs. He sees Jin jogging up to them with a slight scowl on his face.
“How come she likes you? All you did was stand there,” Jin complains.
Kame smirks and lifts her up, unsurprised by how light she is. “Not all of us have to be immature to be favored by kids, Akanishi.”
Jin steps closer and messes up the little girl’s hair; she squeals in protest and wriggles out of Kame’s hold, latching onto Jin and causing Jin’s and Kame’s heads to bump together with a loud smack.
“I like Jin-niichan too!” the little girl proclaims.
Kame winces and rubs his forehead. There is a conspicuous bruise already forming on Jin’s, but Jin doesn’t seem to notice as he spins around with the girl tucked safely in his arms, their laughter ringing above the director’s exasperated commands.
Jin’s really good with kids.
***
Sometimes Kame thinks about what he might be like ten years from now; he wonders if he would be married by then, if he would have a son or a daughter whose smile would be greeting him as soon as he got home. He tries to imagine the other members of KAT-TUN in the same situation-Koki carrying a baby cautiously in his arms; Junno bouncing a bewildered toddler on his knee as he cracks a new pun. Ueda leading a primly-dressed daughter by the hand, and Maru-well, Kame still couldn’t quite picture Maru with a girl, let alone a kid…
The scene he pictures Jin in is a cozy living room with three hyperactive children running circles around him.
Kame decides that that would probably be the most likely occurrence, but then again it is still ten years too early, and maybe if he thinks otherwise-hard enough, hopefully enough-it might not happen the way he imagines it.
***
“Nakamaru said I’d make a better dad than you,” Jin tells Kame smugly the next day.
Kame rolls his eyes. “What would you know, you’d probably get distracted by passing butterflies and let go of your kid’s hand while the two of you cross the street.”
“I would not,” Jin protests vehemently. “And butterflies don’t frequent city intersections, last time I checked.”
“That wasn’t the point,” Kame sighs.
Jin sticks his tongue out at him. “Well, you probably wouldn’t get any kids, given that you’d still be a workaholic within the next decade and you won’t give yourself time to make any.”
Kame grants him a cold glare, and Jin’s smile falters.
“It was a joke, Kame-”
But Kame is already out of the door before Jin can finish his sentence.
***
Jin is a pretty simple person. Not in a bad way, exactly, although sometimes people might see that as the case-Jin is pretty simple in that he always knows what he wants and he doesn’t let anyone deter him from getting it.
Other people call it selfishness, but it’s not like Jin listens to them, anyway. The only demands that filter through Jin’s one-track mind are the work-related ones-he does what the management tells him up to a point he deems necessary. It is the reason he says silly things at random, or likes tall blondes, or goes off to LA to study the English language. It is the reason he makes fun of Junno so much, or mockingly refers to Maru as ordinary, or calls Kame ‘Kamenashi’ and seldom talks to him in front of a rolling camera.
Jin does what the management tells him up to a point he deems necessary, but it doesn’t mean that he always has to agree with it.
***
The park is overrun with kids, boisterous and energetic and full of laughter, and it is a comforting sound that brings a fond smile to Kame’s lips, makes him think of silly children’s games and baseball matches, of running in no particular direction and being free.
“You look like an old man reminiscing his youth.” Jin sits down beside him on the park bench, and Kame jumps up with a start.
“What are you doing here?” Kame asks, scooting a little to the side to give Jin more room.
Jin shrugs and slides across the space Kame has provided for him, their hips and thighs almost touching. Kame’s eyes instinctively dart to the children’s direction. “I was driving around on my motorbike,” Jin explains, oblivious to Kame’s discomfort. “You’re on break from filming?”
“Yes,” Kame answers, but Jin doesn’t seem to have heard as he laughs openly at two boys play-wrestling on the grass.
Kame wonders why Jin does these things-randomly pops out of nowhere and invades Kame’s personal space like a persistent and attention-starved shadow. He wouldn’t want to have a kid with Jin’s personality in the future, he thinks, too bothersome and self-centered and unpredictable.
But that’s what sets Jin apart from the rest, come to think of it. It’s what makes Kame look twice, thrice at him-a dozen stolen gazes a day, when he knows Jin-or anyone else-isn’t looking.
Kame inhales sharply when Jin takes his hand, Jin’s fleshier fingers intertwining with his own. He glances up to meet Jin’s eyes, which are sparkling with a glow of contentment and unconcern for everything around them.
A boy comes to a halt in front of them, his gaze curious. “Why are you holding hands with another boy?” he addresses Jin innocuously, pointing at their linked hands.
Kame stiffens and starts to pull free from Jin, whose grip merely tightens in response. “Why shouldn’t I?” Jin replies with a grin, poking the boy’s cheek with his free hand.
The little boy wrinkles his nose. “How should I know? I’m only five,” he retorts, batting Jin’s hand away and bending over to pick up the stray ball that had come to a stop at Kame’s feet.
Jin deftly snatches the ball away, dumping it in Kame’s lap. “I’ll tell you why. Because it’s what people do when they care about each other. Like this,” he demonstrates, letting go of Kame and enveloping the kid’s tiny hands in his own.
The boy makes a face. “You can’t care about someone you just met,” he points out in a superior, adults-just-don’t-understand-anything kind of tone.
“Of course you can,” Jin says seriously, retracting his hands and ruffling the boy’s hair. “It’s better than hating someone right off the bat, right?” He picks up the ball and throws it back at the boy’s waiting companions.
“You’re weird,” the boy announces, his eyes following the ball’s trajectory. “But you’ve got a good throw, nii-chan. Want to play with us?”
Jin laughs. “Sure. Next time, when I’m not busy.”
“Adults are always busy,” the boy complains with a pout. He turns heel and runs off, but he waves back at Jin as he goes.
“They are, unfortunately,” Jin says quietly, glancing at Kame.
Kame stares back, and he suddenly feels something heavy weighing on him, like guilt, only made much worse because of Jin. He feels like Jin is expecting him to say something, waiting for him to make promises he couldn’t possibly keep. He wants to say something that would appease Jin, but that’s not what he was told to do. “I have to be back at the set in five minutes,” he says instead.
“Then stay for five more minutes,” Jin answers, grabbing Kame’s hand and refusing to let go.
“Jin,” Kame hisses, narrowed eyes scanning the area in mild panic. He attempts to tug free, but Jin doesn’t budge.
Jin slumps further down on the bench, resting his head on Kame’s shoulder. “Just wake me up when you’re supposed to go,” he yawns.
“What-don’t sleep, I have to go now,” Kame protests, but Jin’s eyes are already closed, his breaths slow and even.
He’s faking it, Kame decides, scowling at Jin as he tests if he can wriggle his fingers out of Jin’s vice-like grip, only to fail, as expected. Jin’s palm is warm against his own, and it would have been pleasant if only Kame’s fingers hadn’t gone numb from Jin’s efforts.
He can’t help but smile despite himself, reaching up to brush at a stray strand of hair that has gotten into Jin’s eyes. He bites his lip, hand still hovering uncertainly over Jin’s face, and the sound of chattering children’s voices brings him back to his senses. Without stopping to think, he gives Jin’s forehead a hard flick.
Jin’s eyes fly open, hard and glaring. “That hurt.”
“I’m going,” Kame tells him stubbornly, and this time Jin allows his grip to slacken when Kame stands up to leave.
***
“See you around,” Jin shouts over the noise of the engine as Kame’s hands slip off his waist. Kame dismounts the motorcycle and awkwardly stands beside it, staring where Jin’s eyes probably are behind his helmet’s tinted visor.
“Thanks for the ride,” Kame says, unable to resist glancing behind him at the deserted studio entrance as he did so.
Jin takes off his helmet and nods, cocking his head to the side expectantly.
Kame exhales. “I still have an interview to go to after the shoot,” he finds himself saying.
Jin shrugs. “You think I don’t have things to do?” He rolls his eyes and reaches forward, tugs at the collar of Kame’s jacket until Kame’s face is but a hair’s breadth away from his own. “Where we’re both not busy,” he murmurs, soft words tumbling against Kame’s lips, “Come over and play with me, okay?”
Kame’s cheeks flush crimson and he resists the urge to draw back. Not that the urge is that strong to begin with. “I will,” he answers breathlessly.
Jin steals a quick peck from Kame’s lips before pulling back. “Promise?” he says with a smirk.
“…promise,” Kame replies, almost exasperatedly.
“You better.” Jin’s tone is haughty, like a spoilt child, but Kame finds that he doesn’t mind it all that much.
Kame looks into Jin’s eyes and tries to imagine what it would be like in ten years, and he comes up blank.
When he’s with Jin he figures it’s a lot easier to just focus on the here and now.
Author: nami (kanzenrei)
Rating: G
Pairing: Akame
Summary: Kame thinks too hard about the future. Jin prefers living in the present.
Notes: For newlyfallensnow, who turned 18 today, and tinzedesu, who’ll be 16 tomorrow. Happy birthday guys ♥ Fic partly based on a prompt by the former way back when.
He picks her up and twirls her around, and her little arms flail in the air, giggles escaping her lips as he brings her back to earth.
“Akanishi’s really good with kids, isn’t he?” Maru offhandedly remarks, watching Jin and the little girl with mild fascination from where he stands about ten feet away.
Kame glances up from his program notes, impassive eyes flicking in Jin’s direction. “I guess,” he replies, returning to his previous task almost instantaneously.
“He’d make a great dad,” Maru continues, now smiling amusedly as the little girl lunged at Jin from behind, knocking him down onto the set’s hard floor. Jin groans, smile pained but intact as the child claps her hands in delight.
Kame glances at his watch. “It’s almost time. Whose daughter is she? Are you sure the staff are allowed to bring their kids in here?” The little girl trips over a camera wire and almost sends an expensive digital device crashing to the floor if not for Jin’s quick reflexes. Kame frowns.
Maru shrugs. “She’s not hurting anybody… Well, almost,” he adds as an afterthought.
“Break’s over!” the director’s voice booms out, making the little girl jump in frightened surprise and sending her fleeing in Kame’s direction.
“You’re not so bad yourself, Kame,” Maru observes wryly.
Kame awkwardly pats the head of the child clinging tightly to his legs. He sees Jin jogging up to them with a slight scowl on his face.
“How come she likes you? All you did was stand there,” Jin complains.
Kame smirks and lifts her up, unsurprised by how light she is. “Not all of us have to be immature to be favored by kids, Akanishi.”
Jin steps closer and messes up the little girl’s hair; she squeals in protest and wriggles out of Kame’s hold, latching onto Jin and causing Jin’s and Kame’s heads to bump together with a loud smack.
“I like Jin-niichan too!” the little girl proclaims.
Kame winces and rubs his forehead. There is a conspicuous bruise already forming on Jin’s, but Jin doesn’t seem to notice as he spins around with the girl tucked safely in his arms, their laughter ringing above the director’s exasperated commands.
Jin’s really good with kids.
***
Sometimes Kame thinks about what he might be like ten years from now; he wonders if he would be married by then, if he would have a son or a daughter whose smile would be greeting him as soon as he got home. He tries to imagine the other members of KAT-TUN in the same situation-Koki carrying a baby cautiously in his arms; Junno bouncing a bewildered toddler on his knee as he cracks a new pun. Ueda leading a primly-dressed daughter by the hand, and Maru-well, Kame still couldn’t quite picture Maru with a girl, let alone a kid…
The scene he pictures Jin in is a cozy living room with three hyperactive children running circles around him.
Kame decides that that would probably be the most likely occurrence, but then again it is still ten years too early, and maybe if he thinks otherwise-hard enough, hopefully enough-it might not happen the way he imagines it.
***
“Nakamaru said I’d make a better dad than you,” Jin tells Kame smugly the next day.
Kame rolls his eyes. “What would you know, you’d probably get distracted by passing butterflies and let go of your kid’s hand while the two of you cross the street.”
“I would not,” Jin protests vehemently. “And butterflies don’t frequent city intersections, last time I checked.”
“That wasn’t the point,” Kame sighs.
Jin sticks his tongue out at him. “Well, you probably wouldn’t get any kids, given that you’d still be a workaholic within the next decade and you won’t give yourself time to make any.”
Kame grants him a cold glare, and Jin’s smile falters.
“It was a joke, Kame-”
But Kame is already out of the door before Jin can finish his sentence.
***
Jin is a pretty simple person. Not in a bad way, exactly, although sometimes people might see that as the case-Jin is pretty simple in that he always knows what he wants and he doesn’t let anyone deter him from getting it.
Other people call it selfishness, but it’s not like Jin listens to them, anyway. The only demands that filter through Jin’s one-track mind are the work-related ones-he does what the management tells him up to a point he deems necessary. It is the reason he says silly things at random, or likes tall blondes, or goes off to LA to study the English language. It is the reason he makes fun of Junno so much, or mockingly refers to Maru as ordinary, or calls Kame ‘Kamenashi’ and seldom talks to him in front of a rolling camera.
Jin does what the management tells him up to a point he deems necessary, but it doesn’t mean that he always has to agree with it.
***
The park is overrun with kids, boisterous and energetic and full of laughter, and it is a comforting sound that brings a fond smile to Kame’s lips, makes him think of silly children’s games and baseball matches, of running in no particular direction and being free.
“You look like an old man reminiscing his youth.” Jin sits down beside him on the park bench, and Kame jumps up with a start.
“What are you doing here?” Kame asks, scooting a little to the side to give Jin more room.
Jin shrugs and slides across the space Kame has provided for him, their hips and thighs almost touching. Kame’s eyes instinctively dart to the children’s direction. “I was driving around on my motorbike,” Jin explains, oblivious to Kame’s discomfort. “You’re on break from filming?”
“Yes,” Kame answers, but Jin doesn’t seem to have heard as he laughs openly at two boys play-wrestling on the grass.
Kame wonders why Jin does these things-randomly pops out of nowhere and invades Kame’s personal space like a persistent and attention-starved shadow. He wouldn’t want to have a kid with Jin’s personality in the future, he thinks, too bothersome and self-centered and unpredictable.
But that’s what sets Jin apart from the rest, come to think of it. It’s what makes Kame look twice, thrice at him-a dozen stolen gazes a day, when he knows Jin-or anyone else-isn’t looking.
Kame inhales sharply when Jin takes his hand, Jin’s fleshier fingers intertwining with his own. He glances up to meet Jin’s eyes, which are sparkling with a glow of contentment and unconcern for everything around them.
A boy comes to a halt in front of them, his gaze curious. “Why are you holding hands with another boy?” he addresses Jin innocuously, pointing at their linked hands.
Kame stiffens and starts to pull free from Jin, whose grip merely tightens in response. “Why shouldn’t I?” Jin replies with a grin, poking the boy’s cheek with his free hand.
The little boy wrinkles his nose. “How should I know? I’m only five,” he retorts, batting Jin’s hand away and bending over to pick up the stray ball that had come to a stop at Kame’s feet.
Jin deftly snatches the ball away, dumping it in Kame’s lap. “I’ll tell you why. Because it’s what people do when they care about each other. Like this,” he demonstrates, letting go of Kame and enveloping the kid’s tiny hands in his own.
The boy makes a face. “You can’t care about someone you just met,” he points out in a superior, adults-just-don’t-understand-anything kind of tone.
“Of course you can,” Jin says seriously, retracting his hands and ruffling the boy’s hair. “It’s better than hating someone right off the bat, right?” He picks up the ball and throws it back at the boy’s waiting companions.
“You’re weird,” the boy announces, his eyes following the ball’s trajectory. “But you’ve got a good throw, nii-chan. Want to play with us?”
Jin laughs. “Sure. Next time, when I’m not busy.”
“Adults are always busy,” the boy complains with a pout. He turns heel and runs off, but he waves back at Jin as he goes.
“They are, unfortunately,” Jin says quietly, glancing at Kame.
Kame stares back, and he suddenly feels something heavy weighing on him, like guilt, only made much worse because of Jin. He feels like Jin is expecting him to say something, waiting for him to make promises he couldn’t possibly keep. He wants to say something that would appease Jin, but that’s not what he was told to do. “I have to be back at the set in five minutes,” he says instead.
“Then stay for five more minutes,” Jin answers, grabbing Kame’s hand and refusing to let go.
“Jin,” Kame hisses, narrowed eyes scanning the area in mild panic. He attempts to tug free, but Jin doesn’t budge.
Jin slumps further down on the bench, resting his head on Kame’s shoulder. “Just wake me up when you’re supposed to go,” he yawns.
“What-don’t sleep, I have to go now,” Kame protests, but Jin’s eyes are already closed, his breaths slow and even.
He’s faking it, Kame decides, scowling at Jin as he tests if he can wriggle his fingers out of Jin’s vice-like grip, only to fail, as expected. Jin’s palm is warm against his own, and it would have been pleasant if only Kame’s fingers hadn’t gone numb from Jin’s efforts.
He can’t help but smile despite himself, reaching up to brush at a stray strand of hair that has gotten into Jin’s eyes. He bites his lip, hand still hovering uncertainly over Jin’s face, and the sound of chattering children’s voices brings him back to his senses. Without stopping to think, he gives Jin’s forehead a hard flick.
Jin’s eyes fly open, hard and glaring. “That hurt.”
“I’m going,” Kame tells him stubbornly, and this time Jin allows his grip to slacken when Kame stands up to leave.
***
“See you around,” Jin shouts over the noise of the engine as Kame’s hands slip off his waist. Kame dismounts the motorcycle and awkwardly stands beside it, staring where Jin’s eyes probably are behind his helmet’s tinted visor.
“Thanks for the ride,” Kame says, unable to resist glancing behind him at the deserted studio entrance as he did so.
Jin takes off his helmet and nods, cocking his head to the side expectantly.
Kame exhales. “I still have an interview to go to after the shoot,” he finds himself saying.
Jin shrugs. “You think I don’t have things to do?” He rolls his eyes and reaches forward, tugs at the collar of Kame’s jacket until Kame’s face is but a hair’s breadth away from his own. “Where we’re both not busy,” he murmurs, soft words tumbling against Kame’s lips, “Come over and play with me, okay?”
Kame’s cheeks flush crimson and he resists the urge to draw back. Not that the urge is that strong to begin with. “I will,” he answers breathlessly.
Jin steals a quick peck from Kame’s lips before pulling back. “Promise?” he says with a smirk.
“…promise,” Kame replies, almost exasperatedly.
“You better.” Jin’s tone is haughty, like a spoilt child, but Kame finds that he doesn’t mind it all that much.
Kame looks into Jin’s eyes and tries to imagine what it would be like in ten years, and he comes up blank.
When he’s with Jin he figures it’s a lot easier to just focus on the here and now.